A gas turbine engine generally includes a compressor section, a combustor section, a turbine section and an exhaust section. In operation, the compressor section may induct ambient air and compress it. The compressed air from the compressor section enters one or more combustors in the combustor section. The compressed air is mixed with the fuel in the combustors, and the air-fuel mixture can be burned in the combustors to form a hot working gas. The hot working gas is routed to the turbine section where it is expanded through alternating rows of stationary airfoils and rotating airfoils and used to generate power that can drive a rotor. The expanded gas exiting the turbine section may then be exhausted from the engine via the exhaust section.
In a typical gas turbine engine, bleed air comprising a portion of the compressed air obtained from one or more stages of the compressor may be used as cooling air for cooling components of the turbine section. Additional bleed air or an alternative cooling air source may also be supplied to portions of the exhaust section, such as to cool portions of the exhaust section and maintain a turbine exhaust case below a predetermined temperature through a forced convection air flow provided within an outer casing or other components of the engine. Currently, the cooling air supplied to the support struts and adjacent components of the turbine exhaust case is not sufficient. In particular, the strut at top dead center and adjacent struts are heated more than the strut a bottom dead center and the adjacent struts. As such, the steady state position of the exhaust bearing body radially inward of the struts moves off-center in the bottom dead center direction. The higher turbine case temperature at top dead center pulls the top strut, hence the exhaust bearing body, vertically upwards. This is offset partially by the top strut being hotter than the bottom strut. However, the combination of both conditions creates a net result of the exhaust bearing body staying at a vertically higher, off-center position during steady state turbine engine operation with turbine stage one clearance being too tight at top dead center and turbine stage one clearance being too open at bottom dead center. The off-center rotor position can cause an off-center position after shutdown and during turning gear operation, which cause tip rub of the row one turbine blades during a hot restart. Thus, a system that eliminates movement of the exhaust bearing body in a radial direction and into an off-center position is desired.